Featured App

Bills Reminder Lite

Today's roundup is presented by Bills Reminder from HandyApps. The intent and function of the app is simple: it reminds you to pay your bills on time, which is great if you like to use things like electricity and insurance. The interface is fantastic, with a fully customizable database, color-coded bills, and the ability to amend photos for bills or invoices. The lite app is the first widget below, and the full app below that is $3.99.

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Keep getting those nasty late payment fees? Download this mobile bill organizer into your Android smartphone now and get daily reminders to pay your bills on time every time! No more easy money for the banks!Simply key in your payment amount and due date and this bill tracker app will notify you in advance when your bill payment is coming due. With this handy mobile payment tracker with you at all times, now you don't have to worry about forgetting to pay your bills while you go about your busy schedule!

By default, Bills Reminder will start to remind you of the payment 5 days before the due date. The number of days in advance can be customized for each bill but the default is set to 5 days. (You can change the default setting as well)

Bill Reminders will fire off reminder notifications every day at a preset time (default is 8:00am) until you have paid your bill. Your device LED will also flash a distinct orange color to indicate that a bill payment is coming due.

Unlike other bill tracking apps, Bills Reminders will always fire off when the bill payment is coming due, no matter whether you have opened the app or not or whether you have rebooted your device.

You can also setup recurring bill reminders. The repeating period is extremely flexible, you can set bill reminders to repeat every X days,weeks,months or year. (Eg. every 2 weeks, every 6 days, every 1 month etc.)

You can also capture or attach photos of bills, invoices, receipts alongside each bill reminder you created. This is helpful when it comes to actually making the payment. All the information is already stored in the app, so there is no need to go and find that paper bill statement.

Paid Bills/Invoices/receipts can be kept for future reference

With all those late fees saved, this bill tracking app will pay for itself in no time!

Apps

Rec. (Screen Recorder)

KitKat includes some cool new ways for developers to record video of their devices, but ordinary users are still left out in the cold. If you're not comfortable with ADB and similar tools, Rec lets you record video on your KitKat device incredibly easily, provided that you have root permissions. The interface is great, there are a ton of options, and the developer is constantly updating the app. Full access requires a small in-app purchase, but for power users it's more than worth it.

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Rec. is a beautiful new screen recording app which provides enhanced and un-tethered access to the screenrecord utility introduced in Android 4.4 Kit Kat; neatly packaged into a customizable, intuitive user interface. Rec. (Pro) provides many advantages over the standard adb screenrecord utility. Some of the highlights include:

No need to be tied to your computer while recording.

Longer screen recording – record for up to 1 hour.

A beautiful user interface – no more messing with the command line/terminal.

Save your favorite configurations as Presets.

Automatically show screen touches for the duration of your recording.

Customizable countdown timer so that you can get your screen recording set-up perfectly.

Talon for Twitter

Talon is clearly trying to ride the coattails of Falcon and Carbon, but that's alright - the more Twitter apps, the merrier. (Right, restrictive API jerks?) This one is a full-featured app made specifically with KitKat in mind, with an impressive mix of Twitter, Google+, and Holo found in the adaptive interface. (Check out those transparent notification and navigation bars. HOT.) Standard features include support for multiple accounts, an in-app mini browser, and much, much more.

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Get fully immersed in your Twitter with this beautiful, feature PACKED Twitter client with a design that actually makes sense! Beautiful, up-to-date layouts, designs, and neat animations isn't the only thing Talon has going for it though! The list of features is enormous as well, doing everything you could ever want from a Twitter app right off the bat. Even though it is new, I have added every single major and minor Twitter feature that I think is absolutely essential plus a ton that most people wouldn't even think of.

EvolveSMS

Developer Klinker Apps has been busy - they're responsible for this app and Talon, both premiering today. EvolveSMS takes the same approach (impressive UI, tons of features, KitKat touches) and applies it to a standard SMS app. As you can see, the whole thing is laid out with Holo in mind - I like the contact list that's integrated into a slide-out menu. Impressively, widgets for home and lockscreens are available, and sending MMS content is included as well. EvolveSMS is a free download.

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EvolveSMS is a powerful texting replacement app that makes talking to your friends quick, fun and easy! It’s been designed from the bottom up with the newest Android guidelines in mind to look beautiful and just plain work. Feel completely immersed in the app with a design that flows freely between, you, all your friends, and Android.

A beautiful and smooth interface for sliding between conversations so everything is just a swipe away

Full multimedia support including sending pictures, videos, audio, contacts, GIFs and your location

A popup that allows you full access to anything in the app and looks great

12Hours

Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? This brilliant little widget is a combination of a short agenda and an analog clock, displaying upcoming Google Calendar items in a color-coded ring around the clock face. It's a simple and effective way to see what the next 12 hours contain. I wish the widget had more color and theme options, plus a second hand (gotta have that tick), but it's already earned a spot on my center homescreen.

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Analog clock? Day planner? 12Hours is both at the same time, with a unique and eye catching design. What is it? It's an analog clock widget which automatically gets all your calendar events in the next 12 hours and shows them as marked zones on a clock. Simple as that. What does it do? It shows you all your events in the next 12 hours at a glance, making it easier than ever to plan your day.You can see exactly when and how long your events are just by looking at your phone.

RetroArch

RetroArch is a popular emulator on a ton of platforms, mostly because it supports, well, a ton of platforms. This open-source emulator includes the capability to play games from all the major 8- and 16-bit game consoles, plus the PlayStation, a ton of portables, and more. It's a free download, but of course you'll need to supply your own (ahem) legally-obtained game files in order to play anything. RetroArch was previously removed from the Play Store, and there's nothing that says it won't happen again, but you can also download the APK from the project home page.

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It comes with its own built-in collection of applications to provide you with a 'one-stop-shop' for entertainment. RetroArch is an open-source project that makes use of a powerful development interface called Libretro. Libretro is an interface that allows you to make cross-platform applications that can use rich features such as OpenGL, cross-platform camera support, location support, and more in the future.

Jelly

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone (who is in fact a real person and not a cartoon character) made a lot of buzz by launching a new search engine. This ain't your daddy's Google - you'll have to include a photo to ask any question. So I suppose "what is this white rash on my [ed. note: REDACTED]?" wouldn't be a very nice thing to ask your Facebook and Twitter friends. Early reports indicate that the launch version is a bit buggy.

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Jelly is a new way to search with pictures and people from your social networks. It's also people helping each other—something that's both meaningful and fun.

Ask questions with images to deepen the context. Crop, reframe, zoom, and draw on your images to get more specific.

Jelly works with your existing social networks. In addition to asking, you may find yourself answering questions as well.

Questions can be forwarded outside the app so your friends who don't have Jelly can still help. It feels good to help.

Loopr - Task Switcher (Beta)

There are a lot of variations on the SwipePad theme, and this one is interesting both functionally and visually. It's more of a replacement for the standard Recents button than anything else, allowing you to display the most recent apps in a semicircle with a quick swipe from the left or right of the screen. You can scroll through apps with a quick swipe, and a recent addition has added standard nav buttons, not unlike LMT PIE. Hovering over an app will give you a full-screen "peek" without actually switching.

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Do you want to speed up your multitasking? Being able to customize your device with a new look? Then this app might be the right one for you. Loopr is a task switcher, pretty much like the recent apps menu on your android system, but with much quicker access and a few more options.

Gapps Manager

If you're a habitual ROM flasher, you know that tracking down the elusive Gapps package (a flashable bundle that includes the Play Store and other Google services) can be a pain. Install Gapps Manager, and you'll never need to hunt through wiki pages again. It includes quick links to the standard Gapps ZIP files going all the way back to Gingerbread, including versions for the new Android Runtime (ART) on KitKat.

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Gapps Manager easy lets you download the proper gapps (google apps) flashable zip package to install on your custom ROMs. Currently, it supports gapps for gingerbread (2.3.x), ics (4.0.x), jellybean (4.1.x-4.3.x), and kitkat (4.4.x), art support also available. Never bother with searching for compatible gapps again, or waste your time ending up with gapps that don't work properly for you.

YouSnap

Ever tried to take a quick photo of a billboard or PowerPoint slide, only to find that it's nigh unreadable from your perspective? YouSnap will automatically find these images, correct the perspective, brush up the lighting, and present you with a nearly-perfect copy of whatever you're shooting for. It looks like something the CSI guys would use, but in fact it's a pretty handy tool. Outputs in standard JPEG and PDF are available for easy sharing.

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CyberLink YouSnap is easy-to-use and squares up your images in just a few seconds. It’s ideal to capture notes from meetings and presentations, and to make sure any photos you take of notes are clear and legible. You can save your corrected image as a PDF or JPG, or share it via email or directly to Facebook. The powerful camera app for your Android phone and tablet isolates and precisely selects the important areas in your photos, then instantly corrects the perspective and enhances the image quality for a clean, crisp result.

beat

Most music players for Android include a widget at the very least, and the good ones also include playback controls in the drop-down notification shade (come on, Pandora, get on the trolley!). If not even that is enough for you, you can get an always-on floating widget that's instantly accessible from any app with the Beat player. Controls and visuals are customizable, and it will stream music from Dropbox or Google Drive, but as usual, Google Play Music's policies mean that Unlimited is off limits.

Swim by American Red Cross

Swimming might not seem like it's as perilous as a tornado or forest fire, but it comes with its own set of dangers for kids, so the Red Cross is back with another one of its great safety-focused apps. This one is all about helping kids learn to swim in the safest way possible, but it also includes a set of games and achievements to keep them motivated. Quizzes and an easy interface will help kids remember what they've learned when they're de-pruning out of the pool.

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Help your child become a confident swimmer. The American Red Cross Swim app puts the 100 year old Learn to Swim program in the palm of your hand. Brush up on your water safety knowledge, play parent child games together and track your child's progress in the class.

Companion to the American Red Cross Learn to Swim Program with Parent reference info in the form of skills and objectives.

Locate your nearest Learn to Swim facility and sign up for classes.

Performance charts with individual stroke video per level.

Tracking main and sub level progress through digital achievements.

Kid tailored video, quiz and safety content.

Environment specific safety content and how to recognize and act in water emergencies.

Activities for parents and kids to do together.

Interactive quizzes allow you to earn badges that you can share with your friends and family members.

Glooko

Glucose meter checking is no joke if you're diabetic, and it's nice to see a health app that's focused on a genuine need rather than a lifestyle. Glooko allows you to download information from a compatible glucometer and track your daily habits over time, allowing a careful user to better plan out dietary needs and uses. You'll need a $40 cable (see link below) to use the app, but it's compatible with most of the popular glucometer models sold to individuals and hospitals.

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Glooko is changing the way you manage your diabetes. With the Glooko mobile app and the Glooko MeterSync Cable for Android you can seamlessly download blood glucose readings onto your Android device. Your data can now be easily annotated with lifestyle context, shared with your healthcare team, and viewed online. Glooko’s FDA 510(k) cleared system is compatible with 22 FDA-cleared meters (27 worldwide) and 15 Android devices.

AppDeals

Need some app deals? Check out AndroidPolice.com daily. Need some app deals without having to listen to us prattle on about the latest happenings in the technology world? Then you might want to check out AppDeals, which features a list of discounted apps and games in a card UI with links directly to the Play Store on your device. The app itself includes advertising, which you can remove for a small charge.

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AppDeals is great new way to find the best app deals and sales for apps, games and wallpapers on Google Play.

WePopp

WePopp is a planning app that's flirting with a horrible, horrible typo. But the central idea is pretty good: it's basically an automatic, social version of the "when are you free?" discussion. Send out a message to your buddies with available dates, and they can reply in an informal RSVP or start chatting directly through the app. Recipients don't even need WePopp to confirm their availability.

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Pick a date? A restaurant? A bar? between emails, texts and phone calls, planning your next get-together with friends can be a nightmare. With WePopp, do everything in one app. You can use it for a restaurant, a bar, a dinner, a trip etc.

Solo Weather(Beta)

There seems to be an overabundance of drop-dead gorgeous weather apps out there. I don't know if we need yet another one, but here it is. Solo Weather looks a lot like a stylized version of the forecasts on The Weather Channel, and it includes major cities from around the world. Unfortunately there's no widget, but the description says that it's coming soon.

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Solo Weather(Beta) is an easy app with elegant UI,provides detailed weather for all cities worldwide.Life should be simple and beautiful,and why not try this Solo Weather.It is free,for real.No fees, no ads, no gimmicks.

UpNext alpha

Here's a simple agenda widget that's more along traditional lines, with a good bit of Card/Holo looks. Right now it only works with Google Calendar, but it includes both dark and light themes, black or white text, and an opacity slider, so you perfectionists should be able to make it work with just about any wallpaper.

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UpNext is a simple calendar widget focused on displaying your daily agenda as it goes in time. Currently in alpha.

Comments

lorenzobjuarez

Its incredibly amazing how far Android App design has comed... most new apps look absolutely beautiful! My only question is, when will Android Police do the same with this website. The design is awfully, awfully dated (come on, Android Police, get on the trolley!)

sourabh sekhar

When is the site redesign coming?
Any ETA?
Please 'BACKANSWER'.

jesuguru

sorry that's "SOON BACKANSWER!!!"
#memecorrections

sourabh sekhar

i edited it.
#memeedit

Mick Collingwood

A lot of interesting apps in this roundup. Even though I'm an avid Falcon Pro user I do like the look of the new twitter app.

Jazavchar

Yea, can't remember the last time I installed this many new apps. Awesome collection.

dandmcd

Yousnap sounds exactly what I need in my university classes, as my language teachers write a lot of notes on the whiteboard and I'm never face to face with the board. I can't wait to try it out next semester.

I'm going to give UpNext a spin as well. Looks like a beautiful calendar widget.

"We'll find you someone you're so comfortable with, you can poop together."

Mobile Phones Fan

Personally endorsed by the late GG Allin.
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John Smith

why does Rec require root when "screenrecord utility introduced in Android 4.4 Kit Kat" sounds like it's built-in to the OS ?
Also - is it possible to record video from any Android device using ADB ? I haven't seen that feature.

Sxeptomaniac

Because the built-in utility doesn't allow recordings to be done directly on the device, you're supposed to be a developer using adb to do that. Rec has to have root to get around that limitation.

John Smith

That artificial limitation doesn't make a whole lot of sense - Thanks for the explanation

Sxeptomaniac

It doesn't, but it is what it is. I haven't seen if anyone at Google has explained their thought process on that, yet.

I don't want to be "that guy" but Jelly should not be on a "best" anything list. It's literally just Yahoo Answers (which is terrible, as you probably noticed) with the requirement that you also include a photo. Further, it's pushing us further and further down the path of living in an echo chamber where we only ever get information from sources we like. It's just a dumb, terrible app, I'm surprised anyone thinks it's remotely a good idea let alone a "best app".

Sorry for the rant, apps/services like Jelly and Yahoo Answers just drive me nuts and I think they're responsible for a whole lot of the misinformation that gets spread about on the internet.

I can see how much effort has been put into preparing this extensive list. Impressed! Keep up the good work. I would like to suggest another app that is just amazing and meets the need for you to stay connected with your friends: Photo4tune is available for download on Playstore.